


unlikely friends

by filippellis



Category: The Office (US)
Genre: Andy is gay, Developing Friendship, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Mostly Fluff, Movie Night, Not Canon Compliant, but andy's personality is already like it was in s4-s7, but ow at some points, i just love karen and andy and i want them to be friends, karen's pov (and karen centric), takes place in s3, this is not a jim safe fic, this is very self indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:40:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26902276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/filippellis/pseuds/filippellis
Summary: karen sighs, realizing that her life is so shit that the most exciting thing she could do that night is to hang out with andy bernard.
Relationships: Karen Filippelli/Jim Halpert, andy bernard/oscar martinez (mentioned), karen filippelli and andy bernard friendship
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	unlikely friends

its official: karen hates scranton.

she makes it official as she's sitting at her desk, pretending not to watch her boyfriend flirt with the pretty receptionist while she spoons peach yogurt into her mouth. she tried taking up mixed berry yogurt after finding out pam, the receptionist, liked it, but it just wasn't her thing. she also realized that it was probably stupid to think that jim would suddenly like her more if she had the same favorite yogurt flavor as the girl he was actually in love with.

all of the other stamford workers are long gone by this point, and it's not like karen blames them. the boss is an idiot, the people are either mean or insane, and scranton itself is just a really grungy place. she knew that coming when she was planning to move here - she even braced herself by buying a way over priced winter coat from macy's and scarves that made her neck itch but at least kept it warm.

she had been under the impression that even if the town was horrible and the workplace was just as bad as jim had described, at least she'd have him there with her. to crack jokes with when she would step away from her work, to take extra long lunch breaks with at some local scranton diner, to share a knowing look with when one of their coworkers was doing something crazy. she had even had brief moments where she imagined having a nice, suburban life with jim in scranton with a couple of kids, a golden retriever, and one of those fancy houses with a furnished basement and a beach themed bathroom. it's something her teenage self would've kicked her for, but adult her couldn't help it. even when she got a pit in her stomach whenever she imagined it almost as if her gut knew something was wrong with the vision, the simplicity and the normalcy of her dream was enough for it to engulf her completely.

but the second they stepped foot in scranton, that dream was shattered. of course jim is in love with pam, how could he not be? she's sweet, soft spoken, artistic, and all the things karen always wanted to be but never was. she can't hate pam, she actually get's along with her pretty well, and she'd break up with jim if not for the fact that he's the entire reason she stayed in scranton in the first place. and then what reason would she have to stay?

so instead she just sits at her desk, silently fuming over stupid scranton and stupid jim and perfect pam. she tries to distract herself by reading over some spreadsheet she has to have done by the end of the quarter, but it's just about as interesting as you'd think, so instead she just blankly stares at her computer screen as she listens to ross and rachel giggling from reception. would that make her emily? who knows, she never finished friends.

she's so distracted by her friends metaphor that she almost doesn't hear andy when he calls her name. well rather he sings it, tapping a beat with his fingers on his desk to match. she doesn't know how he manages to be so enthusiastic in scranton of all places, but he's always had a weird knack for making the best out of any shitty situation he's in and being happy despite the circumstances. maybe it's blissful ignorance. or the fact that his boyfriend who he moved here for isn't in love with someone else. karen likes to think its a mix of both.

"what, andy?" she replies, which surprises her. usually when andy tries to engage in conversation with her she makes up some excuse about how she's busy, as she's really never in the mood to hear tidbits about cornell and acappella and how he did acappella when he attended cornell. but she decides nothing can be worse than overhearing jim's flirting, not even andy, so she opts to converse with him so she can have a distraction.

"crazy how we're the only stamford people left, huh?" it's not so crazy, karen thinks, but she just nods and gives a "sure is," in response. 

"and since us stamfordites have to stick together, what do you say you come over to my place tonight so we can kick it stamford style? wine, cod, awesomeness..."

karen has to stop herself from immediately saying no to the offer. her and andy have worked together for 5 years and in the handful of times they had hung out, it had always been with other coworkers at some bar or pub where she had spent the entire night deliberately avoiding him. never by himself at his own place. she can't imagine the night going well or even being tolerable, but then again, what else does she have planned? watching bad reality tv in her holiday inn room? going out for drinks with jim who doesn't even pretend to be interested in her anymore? 

karen sighs, realizing that her life is so shit that the most exciting thing she could do that night is to hang out with andy bernard. she still hesitates before answering, probably because she knows how lame that is, but eventually she does.

"okay. can you email me your address?"

andy fistbumps the air, exclaiming "yeah!" before he starts typing out an email to her. upon seeing how excited he is at the prospect of hanging out with her, karen can't help but smile. she can't remember the last time she wasn't a backup option.

"andy? really?" jim asks at the end of the day when karen says no to going out. hes sitting on her desk as she puts on her macy's coat with a weird look of bewilderment and hurt on his face. "why would you willingly hang out with that guy after spending five torturous years sitting behind him?"

karen shrugs. "i think it'd be nice to catch up."

as they're walking out jim says he'll call her later, and karen says not to bother since she'll probably be at andy's for a while. they bid goodbye and karen sits in her unstarted car for a moment, firmly gripping her steering wheel as she looks at herself in the mirror wondering what god she had angered to end up where she was now, stuck with a boyfriend who can't stand her in a town she hates about to hang out with a guy who she can also barely stand. she squeezes her eyes shut as tight as she can for a moment, hoping that somehow when she opens them again everything would be different than it was. but she opens them to find that nothing has, as she's expected, and just lets out a quiet sigh before driving off. 

she stops by holiday inn room 202, her current apartment, to take a quick shower and to change. she doesn't really know what to wear to andy's, wondering if he'd be in some fancy get up like he always was at work. deciding she can't be bothered, she throws on a pair of leggings and a penn state hoodie that she got in college, evident by how worn out it is. she second guesses whether or not she wants to go as she's getting ready, but she figures she's in too deep to back out now, so she sticks with it.

she leaves by 7:30 and arrives just before 8. when andy opens the door he has a wide grin on his face, almost as if he was surprised that she actually showed up. she kind of is too. 

andy's wearing a cornell sweatshirt over a button up, leading them to argue for a bit about their respective schools, an argument that andy obviously started and that karen obviously won. 

andy leads her to the living room of his apartment which is totally andy-esque. his shelves are stacked with awards from singing competitions, his walls covered with pictures of all his friends, and of course his diploma is displayed proudly above his fireplace, and of course andy has a fireplace. the couch is one of those nice velvety ones that you sink into, and it's a tacky maroon color, but karen almost doesn't even mind due to how comfortable it is. 

she sits on the couch with her knees curled up beside her, making note of andy's decorations while he's off in the kitchen. he returns with a bottle of some fancy french wine and a plate of bruschetta to "make her feel at home." she rolls her eyes at it, but decides it's a nice gesture and secretly appreciates the thoughtfulness of it. plus, it's damn good bruschetta too.

karen's surprised by how almost natural the night feels. it was a bit awkward at first as they went through the motions of small talk about work and weather and sports, but as the wine loosened them up and they started playing cod, it felt reminiscent of late nights they'd spend at stamford to finish sales reports and the cod teambuilding exercises josh always made them do. but while she hated those times in the moment, they were a hell of a lot better than her life now, and it was oddly comforting to revisit them.

"damn it andy, stop camping!" she exclaims after being spawn killed by him one too many times, chucking the controller to the side out of frustration. andy flashes her a smile, putting down his controller his well after securing a victory over her.

"don't hate the playa, filippelli, hate the game!"

now that they were finished with cod, they both sat in silence as if neither of them new what to say or do. karen is leaning against the armrest with her knees up and andy is sitting opposite of her, legs crossed, wine glass in hand. she takes another sip from her own before her eye's meet andy's. he gives her a soft smile and she gives one back.

'i've had a lot of fun so far," he says with his usual level of enthusiasm. "even though you suckkkk at cod." (he sings suck). 

karen's mouth goes agape as she pretends to be offended. "you are just a cheater!" she responds before letting out a laugh. andy tries to defend himself, but karen isn't having it and calls him out on all of his bullshit. the argument ends after a bit of back and forth, with each of them swearing they have won.

"i've had a lot of fun too," karen says in the debate's aftermath, and it shocks her how genuine that statement is. they had never been the best of friends, or even friends at all, in stamford, but she now finds that she likes spending time with him. he was a comforting presence, a remnant of everything she yearned to go back to. and even if that life was far behind her, the phase in her life where jim had just started working there and she thought their future together was bright and that he actually liked her, at least she had a piece of it to keep with her. 

"i think i'm gonna break up with jim." 

she lets the words that have been building up inside of her fall out of her mouth without even thinking. andy chokes on his wine a bit when she hears it, and she doesn't blame him. the only conversations the night had consisted of other than small talk up until that point had been yelling about cod, and then she goes and drops a bomb on him. she's surprised she said it too, andy and her aren't close whatsoever and she's never been one to just open up like that to people. she's also not drunk enough to use that as an excuse. but the need to say that was so pressing, so urgent, and she really had no one else to say it to aside from andy. which is a separate depressing matter that karen can think about another day. 

"why? tuna's great!" it's a response that annoys her but one that she was expecting. she knows andy loves jim, everyone does, and she also knew that because of that, she'd probably be faulted for any sort of issue that arose in the relationship. she guesses that she's just not as likeable. maybe she should start bullying dwight more, that might do it.

"he's in love with the receptionist."

"pam?"

"yeah."

andy laughs, and for a moment karen feels so stupid for opening up to him that she feels like she just might start crying. she shoots him a confused look.

"what?" she asks, her tone being more upset than she had hoped. andy looks up at karen, and noticing the look on her face, he stops laughing and becomes gentler than she had ever seen him.

"that makes tuna an idiot then. i've known you for like, forever, and you are by far the coolest chick i know. he was lucky just to have a shot with you, and then he just goes and screws it up by having his eye on another lady? idiot move! i should start calling him big screw-a. screw-na?" 

it's the sweetest thing anyone's said to her in a really long time, even if it's totally andy-esque, and she lets out this huge sigh that she didn't know she was holding in her. she glances at andy who already has a look of genuineness on his face which makes her lips turn upwards. she feels all sappy, because god, what's with this sudden bond with her coworker of five years who's she's found annoying most of the time? she shrugs it off. it's not like she minds.

"thanks andy. really." he nods, putting his hand atop her and squeezing it for a moment. karen squeezes it back. "tis all true," he responds. 

"hey, why'd you invite me over tonight anyway?" she asks, turning to face him. "i just realized in all our years of knowing each other, you've never asked me over before. did you get a crush on me or something?" she laughs at her own joke, causing andy to do the same.

"first of all, no. i'll have you know my office crush is a scranton native and this person's identity is VERY top secret." karen makes a mental note to try and pry that out of him later. "second of all..." he pauses for a moment, struggling to find the words. "i don't know, a lot of people here are so lame. which just highlights how cool you are. and i've always wanted to be your bro, and moving here made that even clearer. didn't think you'd say yes, though..."

she somehow feels even sappier, and she doesn't even care if it's stupid or not, so she squeezes andy's hand a little tighter in hopes that it could convey her gratitude to him. 

"we are friends, andy." she wants to say more, but she's unable to find the words, so she leaves it there. andy looks like he's about to cry, as if he's been waiting to hear her say that for years. she thinks he might have been. she feels bad about making him wait so long for a second, but the feeling washes over her when andy pulls her into a hug. she's gotten hugs from him a million times before, but this one is tighter and more meaningful than any one she can remember. it takes her a second to hug back, but she does, returning it just as tight.

"so we're bros?"

"thaaatt's pushing it, she says with a laugh, letting go of him. she ends up with her head on his shoulder. he responds with a chuckle, picking up the remote and beginning to shuffle through channels to find something to watch.

"quick question," she chirps after a bit of channel surfing, to which andy responds with a "hmm?"

"is it oscar?"

"dammit filippelli!! how did you know?" she cackles as she looks at his disbelief stricken face. "i see how you always make excuses to go to accounting! you're sooo obvious."

they decide on some french movie from the 50's about love and romance and all sorts of gross stuff. karen thinks it's laughably bad so she's thoroughly entertained, meanwhile andy seems to genuinely find the movie heartwarmingly romantic. she thinks she saw him cry at one point. 

she keeps her head on her shoulder for the duration of the movie as the two of them make various comments about it, karen's being snarky and andy's being full of praise. about 3/4ths through the movie, right when the hot female protagonist is about to get on a plane without the wayyy less hot male love interest, karen yawns, only now noticing how heavy her eyes feel. 

"you can sleep on the couch if you want," andy whispers to her, apparently noticing too. "mi casa es tu casa." 

"thanks. i will. after the movie though, i really gotta see him get dumped by her."

andy gasps. "she won't! they're soulmates!"

"she is soooo out of his league."

she begins to drift off not long after that, listening to rapid french coming from the tv and andy still shouting passionate responses to everything that happens with her eyes closed. 

she knows that tomorrow she'll still be in stupid scranton dealing with stupid jim and all of the other problems that life throws at her. but for now, as she's falling asleep next to andy, who she can now call a friend, she feels a lot less alone than she has in a very long time. and she lets that be enough.

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first fic in a very very long time, so i hope you enjoyed and that it was okay !! you can find me on twitter @filippeIIis (the last two "Ls" being uppercase "is)" :-)


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